The ongoing climate change, coupled with the transformations of cultivation practices and land use in sole crop production, may cause a significant decline in sunflower yield stability. Considering that the sunflower is the third oilseed in the world oilseed market, with 45 million tons of grain per year, and that it takes the fourth position in the vegetable oil market, the implementation of sustainable growing technology in sunflower production is a necessity. Considering the above, the goal of the research was to analyze and recommend sustainable sunflower production technology in intercropping systems. A four-year trial was conducted in Serbia’s agroecological conditions (45${}^{\circ }$34${}^{\prime }$23.2${}^{\prime \prime }$ N 19${}^{\circ }$86${}^{\prime }$18.9${}^{\prime \prime }$ E) using a split-plot design. Two oil-type hybrids and one confectionary-type hybrid were intercropped with common vetch, red clover, and alfalfa. Common vetch × sunflower intercropping resulted in the decrease in almost all sunflower traits. Moreover, sunflower × alfalfa intercropping proved to be the most appropriate. The yield of NS Gricko and Rimi PR were statistically on the same level with sole cropping, while alfalfa biomass had better results after alfalfa was intercropped with NS Gricko, as compared to sole cropping. In view of the prevailing belief that yields are more stable in intercropping than in sole cropping, further research is needed in this respect, in addition to further research of the time and method of sowing.

Climate change projections for the 21st century pose great threats to semi-arid regions, impacting seed production and the quality of sunflowers. Crop yields are negatively affected by climate variability, especially in the event of droughts during the crucial growth stages. Understanding the relationships between agrometeorological, genetic, and agronomic factors is crucial for maintaining crop sustainability. Optimal sowing dates are an essential condition for maximizing crop genetic potential, but challenges come from annual weather variations. This study analyzes how sunflower genotypes respond to different sowing dates under climate change and focuses on the conditions for obtaining maximum seed yields and favorable agronomic traits. From 2020 to 2022, the experiment featured six genotypes sown across four different dates at two-week intervals, simulating seed sunflower production. The results obtained by ANOVA indicated that the seed yield and oil yield were significantly affected by the sowing date, the genotype, and their interaction, with coefficients of variation ranging from 7.6% for oil yield to 41.1% for seed yield. Besides seed yield and oil yield, LDA biplot and Discriminant Functions confirmed that seed germination energy also played a significant role in separating genotypes into clusters. A Visual Mixed Model showed that shifting the optimal sowing date (mid-April) to early May allows a reduction in the number of days the plants spend in critical growth stages, thereby escaping stressful conditions during pollination and seed filling. The findings resulted, on average, in increased yields and improved seed quality, which are the primary goals of seed production, but not in increased 1000-seed weight. Notably, high temperatures during the critical sunflower growth stages negatively affected the measured parameters of seed production. The increased precipitation during seed filling boosted the 1000-seed mass and seed yield. Extended flowering reduced the growth rate and seed germination, but longer seed filling increased the 1000-seed mass and seed yield. Our future breeding goals will be to create genotypes with a shorter flowering period and an extended seed-filling period to better respond to climate change.

Spelt wheat (Triticum spelta L.) is regarded as a crop with high nutritional properties. Cultivar Nirvana was analyzed on nine locations in semiarid conditions of northern Serbia in order to assess the effects of different agroecological conditions on the organic spelt wheat production, grain yield and yield components, as well as the quality of the spelt wheat. The highest dehulled grain yield was obtained in Nadalj organic farm (3.98 t ha-1) on a carbonated chernozem, and the highest protein content in whole grain flour was found in organic spelt wheat from Pančevo (13.94%). Correlation analysis showed significant positive correlations among grain yield, spike length, spike weight, number of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight and harvest index and among plant height, spike length, weight spike, and grain weight per spike. Our study indicated that growing spelt wheat in northern Serbia could result in higher grain yield, but protein content depended on crop management on each location.

Given that climate change is a burning issue, agriculture must turn to more sustainable and environmentally friendly systems, counting intercropping. Within a two-year study of intercropping sunflower with legumes, the influence of this system on sunflower plant height and head diameter was investigated. The aim of research was to evaluate the effects of sunflower-legume intercropping on these traits, considering the possibility of competition between crops. The field trial was set up in April 2017 and 2018 at Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia experimental field in moderate-continental climate. Year 2017 was extremely arid with the sum of precipitation different compared to 2018. Plant height and head diameter of hybrids Rimi PR, Dukat and NS Gricko, intercropped with common vetch, red clover and alfalfa were compared with control, i.e. same sunflower hybrids grown as a sole crop. It was observed that intense growth of common vetch suppressed the growth of sunflower, and led to a decrease in measured traits in all three hybrids. Results indicated that the following combinations of sunflower and legumes are most desirable: NS Gricko/RC, Dukat/ALF, Dukat/RC and Rimi PR/ RC depending on the agro-ecological conditions. Given that the experiment was performed in years that varied significantly in agro-ecological conditions, the results indicated that red clover and alfalfa can mitigate the negative effects caused by lack of precipitation and high temperatures. In order to better understand all aspects of sunflowerlegume intercropping, further research, which should include other morphological, qualitative and quantitative indicators, is needed.

For the production of high-yielding sunflower hybrids, it is necessary to cross inbred lines, the parent components of hybrids, which differ in a number of traits. The aim of this paper was to examine the variability of sunflower inbred line for agronomically important traits and to classify them based on similarities. 110 inbred lines from the collection of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad were used in this paper. Nine important agronomic traits were examined: plant height, head diameter, number of days from germination to flowering, number of days from germination to maturity, seed yield, oil percentage, oleic acid content, 1000 seed mass and hull percentage. Inbred lines showed high variability for tested traits. The largest coefficient of variations was for seed yield (CV = 42.51%), and the smallest was for days from germination to flowering (CV = 8.86%) and days from germination to ripening (CV = 8.27%). Based on the principal components analysis (PCA analysis), inbred lines were grouped by similarity: (I) inbred lines with high seed and oil yields, (II) inbred lines with a short period from germination to flowering and (III) inbred lines with a high percentage shells, for special use. Seed yield and oil percentage as the most important agronomic traits were positively correlated, and they were positively correlated with the largest number of examined trais. The data obtained in this paper will be taken into account when crossing the inbred line in order to create sunflower hybrids.

This study investigated soil fungal biodiversity in wheat-based crop rotation systems on Chernozem soil within the Pannonian Basin, focusing on the effects of tillage, crop rotation, and soil properties. Over three years, soil samples from ten plots were analyzed, revealing significant fungal diversity with Shannon–Wiener diversity indices ranging from 1.90 in monoculture systems to 2.38 in a fertilized two-year crop rotation. Dominant fungi, including Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium sp., and Aspergillus sp., showed distinct preferences for soil conditions such as pH and organic matter (OM). Conservation tillage significantly enhanced fungal diversity and richness, with the highest diversity observed in a three-year crop rotation system incorporating cover crops, which achieved an average winter wheat yield of 7.0 t ha⁻¹—47% higher than unfertilized monoculture systems. Increased OM and nitrogen levels in these systems correlated with greater fungal abundance and diversity. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed strong relationships between fungal communities and soil properties, particularly pH and calcium carbonate content. These findings highlight the importance of tailored crop rotation and tillage strategies to improve soil health, enhance microbial biodiversity, and boost agricultural sustainability in temperate climates, providing valuable insights for mitigating the impacts of intensive farming and climate change.